


Mein Kleiner Bruder - My Little Brother

by halelikehell (Asko)



Category: Unsere Mütter unsere Väter | Generation War
Genre: Grief/Mourning, I Made Myself Cry, Post-Canon, So I wrote something myself, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, This fandom needs more fanfics!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:09:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23268253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asko/pseuds/halelikehell
Summary: The war is over.But yet not, it's still ongoing in the Winter family and in their hearts.The guilt is burning in Wilhelm's gut, he have to say something soon.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	Mein Kleiner Bruder - My Little Brother

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry that neither Greta or Viktor is mentioned in this fanfic. But I wanted to focus on the brothers. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy and ... don't cry too much?

“Friedhelm was the better soldier!” Wilhelm shouted getting up on his feet so fast that his chair fell back with a clatter. Charly almost got up from her chair but stopped full of doubt as she glanced to Wilhelm’s parents.

Herr Winter’s lips were so thin they weren’t visible, his hard eyes stared down at the plate and then up at Wilhelm. They looked like dark thunderclouds. Frau Winter was paling fast with blotches of redness on her cheeks, her eyes hadn’t lost their redness for weeks. It was the first time in weeks that someone had dared to mention Friedhelm’s name in their home. Wilhelm had almost teared his hair out complaining to Charly that it was like Friedhelm was a ghost, always there and yet forbidden to mention. It still hurt Charly to hear his name but Wilhelm spoke often of him and how he was like before the war, never did he mention the war-torn man she had met in the hospital. It made her wonder what happened to them, but she didn’t dare to ask remembering her own experiences.

“You watch your ton-...” Herr Winter started.

“I won’t stand for it!” Wilhelm nearly shouted again with wild eyes. “You talking like I was perfect and like it was Friedhelm’s fault that he died!”

Frau Winter suddenly sobbed like someone tore her heart out form her chest and put her hand in front of her mouth.

“He was the good soldier!” Wilhelm said again staring at something on the table that wasn’t there. “I ran away, I was the one dishonouring our name! Despite Friedhelm knew it was wrong, he still stayed and fought! He was the loyal one! Despite what you might want to think of me, I was the coward!”

“No”, Herr Winter suddenly mumbled shaking his head with almost a smirk on his lips, full of denial, as he looked down on his plate again.

“Yes!” Wilhelm shouted with tears in his eyes. “I know you feel guilt with how you treated Friedhelm before, I do too, but it’s the truth! You were wrong about both of us. Friedhelm was always the better man!”

His voice almost broke, clenching his eyes he just heard his father suddenly get up and leave the room.

“I’m sorry mother”, Wilhelm whispered supporting himself on the table with one hand while with the other he tried to keep back the guilt that wanted to crawl up his throat. “I promised that I would protect him.. I didn’t, I couldn’t.”

His mother whimpered almost rocking back and forth. His little brother had always been her favourite, her little baby with a kind and sensitive heart. But now he was dead, and all that was left was him. A useless coward.

Charly glanced at Frau Winter who shook her head showing that she couldn’t take it anymore and left the room too. It was just her and Wilhelm left. They were just going to have a dinner as they were going to get married, but it would take a long time for the wounds to heal.

“Wilhelm”, she spoke softly as she finally stood up from the chair and put a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m sorry”, he croaked with clenched eyes. “I couldn’t take it anymore. Friedhelm... My little brother...”

Tears ran down his cheeks. Charly blinked as she felt tears in her eyes too. She hugged him and was grateful when she felt Wilhelm’s arms around her in response.

“The worst ...”, Wilhelm spoke softly and choked before he started over again. “The worst thing is that I don’t know he would’ve been able to keep going if he had survived. He wasn’t the same anymore.”

Charly closed her eyes and put her hand on the back of Wilhelm’s head.

“I’m not the same anymore”, he muttered bitterly.

“No one is”, Charly murmured softly, neither was she.

“... I was wrong”, Wilhelm spoke after a moment of silence and cleared his throat. “The worst thing is that I don’t know if he knew that I love him and how proud I’m of him.”

Charly felt tears prickling her eyes again.

“He did, I promise you that”, Charly tried to comfort. “He felt the same for you.”

Wilhelm quietly shook his head with a small whine under his breath.

“I let them beat him up, I pushed him away. I let him think that he was a shame”, he whispered hunching in pain and holding onto her like he was afraid that she would leave. “I saw him change; I didn’t do anything. I left, I left him there all alone, I ran because I didn’t want to kill anymore. He didn’t want to kill anyone from the start, and yet I left him. Left him to keep going by himself.”

Charly tensed up when he confessed but didn’t say anything as it was the first time he had said something about Friedhelm and the war.

“I abandoned my little brother”, he whispered with a sob burying his face in her shoulder.

“He loved you”, she could only whisper back what she knew was the truth. “He loved you, and he knew you loved him too.”

He shook his head but didn’t say anything. It would take a very long time for the wounds to heal, if ever, Charly thought but she was going to be there. For Friedhelm’s sake too.


End file.
